


Confidential Council Late Hour

by Le_Bilboquet



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Awkward First Times, F/M, Feeling pain when there's not really any reason to, Fluff, Pillow Talk, Sexual Content, So kinda masochist in a way?, Very long undressing too, feeling overload, it's more like lemon flavored cotton candy at this point tbh, lot of talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:14:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Le_Bilboquet/pseuds/Le_Bilboquet
Summary: He's always loved her, more than anything. And he always knew that when the day came, he'd be prepared, it would be perfect, and she would get everything that she deserved.But he wasn't expecting it today, nor for her to initiate it, and he realizes he is not ready at all.
Relationships: Alternis Dim/Edea Lee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

“You never take your armor off, do you?”

“Well, that is not quite true,” he replied matter-of-factly, barely lifting his head off of his paperwork.

This wasn’t the first time Edea had asked, and this wouldn’t be the last. Not that he could blame her, but he knew the reasons behind her insistence and it still stung a bit to remember he wasn’t the only one she saw when she looked at him anymore.

“I take it off for sleeping, as well as for showering, that means every day. Unless well, there are sometimes missions that call for more than 24 hours shifts, in which cases…”

“Okay, I get it, but that’s not what I meant!”

“And what did you mean?”

She let out her usual growl and walked over from were she stood looking through her window, grabbed him by his shoulders, and commanded: “Take it off.”

That she would be so upfront about it was, this time, new. He still had his pen raised, and realized he forgot what he was about to write. Keeping his composure -the armor sure helped with that- he tried to respond as detached as he could.

“E-excuse-me?” His voice had decided to betray him apparently.

“Why not?” she pouted, her face getting closer. A bit too close, actually.

“Because I’m… barely wearing… anything underneath?”

“That’s the whole point,” she smirked, her voice close to a whisper.

_Oh._

The pen broke in half under his grip right at this moment, providing a much needed distraction as something else was threatening to raise up. As he leaned down to throw it in the bin under the desk, he took the opportunity to put a few more inches between them, letting her hands slide off of him.

“You should… probably not joke in such a way.” His chest suddenly felt tight, making it slightly painful to talk.

“Why? What’s gonna happen?” Her grin wider, she closed on him again, sitting on his thighs, her arm wrapping around his neck.

It completely cut his breath short.

“I think it’s getting late, I should probably go…!” he stood up in a hurry, pushing her away and hurriedly grabbing the papers. This was way too much emotion for tonight. He swiftly made his escape toward the door, not daring to look back, but her voice reeled him back.

“Are you saying you wouldn’t like it?”

As if he could answer that question honestly. What was even happening right now? What sort of game was she playing?

He suddenly turned to her, struck by a realization. “Tell me, Edea, are you drunk?” He noticed she had sat down backward on his still-warm chair, her legs spread apart to accommodate for its back. Not that he could see anything, of course. _Unfortunately._

“Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz,” she recited, and he got a bit worried for a moment before he realized she was just proving she wasn’t drunk “See! I’m fine!”

“Then, where the hell does all this come from?”

“Dammit, Alternis!” she said, while hitting her forehead with her palm. “I have established from official decree a ‘confidential council late hour’ that takes place in my bedroom, which contains one tiny desk and barely any chairs, and I keep spending most of it lazing around on my bed barely touching any paper –hell I even used magic in secret to push the room temperature up— and you STILL haven’t gotten the hint?”

“I-”

Well that did explain a lot of things.

“It’s been _a week_!” Far from the lascivious behavior she had exhibited earlier, she was making faces and nearly screaming her frustration.

“It’s technically been four da-”

“Do you want it or not?” She puffed, staring him down from across the room, still sitting on that chair. Her cheeks looked slightly redder than usual.

It definitely didn’t feel like an appropriate way to ask these kind of things.

However, for some reason that _did_ kind of turn him on.

“I—”

“Yes?”

He took a moment to consider. The right course of action would obviously be to leave now, for this could surely not be it. This wasn’t the right time, there was no way she was serious about this. Yes, this had to be a test of willpower, just another one of her games to torment him.

On the other hand, because she knew him that well, he was failing this game spectacularly.

“Of course I want it.”

His mouth betrayed him in a stiff whisper before he could even think the words, and it took him a moment to register what he just said. When he had, Edea had already replaced all of the papers in his arms. She immediately reached for his helm, but he grabbed her wrists just as quickly.

"Don’t—I’d rather keep it.”

“Alternis, you are NOT keeping this on.”

“Please, it’s… important.”

She made a wary, unconvinced face for a moment, probably asking herself if this was worth it or not. In the end, she just buried her face in his neck where she muffled something in frustration.

“What?”

“Mgrgr, forget it! Now how in the world do you take that thing off?!” She was talking about his breast plate, her hands frantically searching around for some kind of strap or clasp to undo.

“Wait.” His voice felt weirdly, unusually shaky. “First, you need to twist that like this…” After fumbling around in his own back for a bit, something clicked and the metal suddenly got looser. “Then there’s this strap here—”

“I’m doing it!” she huffed, taking the strap out of his hand.

“W-wait—“

“That’s my job to take your clothes off!” she grumbled, looking slightly offended. “No matter how ridiculously over clothed you are.”

“But—”

“I swear I’m going to need blueprints at this point—how does this strap come off?!”

“Edea, the strap is connected to the pauldrons. I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“… Are you sure you don’t have blueprints?”

“I don’t… usually let people take it off for me.”

There was an awkward silence as he remembered why she was even trying to take it off. Were they doing it the right way? It felt a lot less… sexy and romantic than in his fantasies.

And he had had a lot of fantasies.

Suddenly his chest plate fell down, while she discarded the two pauldrons to the side. “Here we go, off to a good start!”

He froze. His tight breaths felt like needles in his throat, and he was light-headed all of a sudden. This was bad. He’d thought he could manage if he could at least keep the helm, but he’d only taken out one thing and he already felt as if he had a sword pointed to his chest. She was already working on his gauntlets, but he stopped her with his other hand.

“Wait, I-I don’t think it’s a good idea after all, maybe…”

“Alternis, you are NOT going fuck me with your full armor on,” she deadpanned at him.

“Wh?! Don’t use that word!”

“What’s the matter? Besides, I already know what you look like underneath all that metal. You look fine, really! Why do you hide it?”

“It’s not—I don’t…!”

How was he supposed to explain? This was neither the place nor the time, there was too much baggage to unpack there. His head was fighting way too hard against this; he wasn’t ready, he hadn’t proven himself yet, he still hadn’t confessed to her the right way, she couldn’t possibly want hi-

“So you really don’t want me, after all.” Her head plopped against his chest.

Wait, what?

“No! Yes! I mean…! Look I don’t… I wasn’t expecting—! Not tonight!”

How could he not want her? Hadn’t he made his feelings clear countless times already? How could anyone not want her? … Although the idea of anyone else lusting after her did make his blood boil.

“It’s fine, I just…” She sighed heavily, still leaning against him. The dejection in her voice made something sink in his chest. “… Shouldn’t have pushed you. But I guess I’m just selfish like that.”

“No!” Hell if he was going to let her think that. “I… really do want it. More than anything in the world. But I…”

She didn’t answer, holding him a bit tighter.

“I…” Words were hard to find, his head was caught in a storm, and the only thing he could listen to right now was his heart. “I’m nervous as _hell_.” He held her tighter too, as if to squeeze out strength from her. “Please, don’t let me run away from this, or I’ll regret it all my life…!”

She didn’t answer, so they stayed locked that way for a few more seconds. Then, she slowly broke away with a shy smile.

“Fine. But no armor, then. I want you, not a cooking pot.”

“No armor, yes.” He gave in, and strangely, felt a warm sense of relief from doing so. She went back to his gauntlets while he sat awkwardly, watching her fumble with how to get anything off, turning his arm over, pinching and twisting. At some point he tried to untie something she had trouble with, but she immediately glared at him.

“You have another task."

“What do you mean?”

“I still have all of my clothes on. Now get to work,” she crooned. She was smiling to herself, and her cheeks turned the loveliest shade of pink.

He was mortified. He was to do what?! Now?!

What was he supposed to take off first? Was he really even allowed? What if he did it wrong—how did you even undress someone wrong? And so he took a deep breath and very slowly and delicately… untied the ribbon in her hair.

“Sorry!” he said reflexively.

“Well, we’ve sure got a long way to go,” she sighed, still a bit red, and got the last bit of armor off his right arm.

Before she moved to his other arm, she quickly fumbled with her own pauldrons and skirt, until it let out an audible click. The metal loosened but stayed on.

“Just helping you,” she said, before going back to her work.

He noticed the loosened pauldrons had made her dress loose too, which meant the fabric wasn’t _quite_ fitting her chest anymore. There was indeed a gap, and from where he was, he could see underneath. He spread the fabric open without even thinking it. Right now he couldn’t really think of anything else, really. Just these two small bumps and their pink tips he’d… admittedly stared in the general direction of quite a lot of times in the past years, thanks to the discretion of his helmet. Now, he felt like he’d discovered them for the first time.

“So no ‘Sorry!’ this time, huh?” she snickered while taking the last piece of armor from his left arm.

“Wh- wha-wha what, I, I-I don’t…!”

She just laughed, a most beautiful sound, and slid his undershirt off. “Now we’re even!”

Then, she squeezed him tight, naked chest against naked chest. That was really, really bad, he thought, tensing up.

She happily nuzzled him for a few seconds until she suddenly perked.

“H-hey.” _Uh-oh. ___

She let go of him slightly to cast her eyes downward. He put his hands defensively in front of the bump between his legs, but too late, she’d already seen it.

“Ah! Don’t be too early, I still have half of your armor to take off!” she said in a panic.

“I-I’m sorry,” he apologized in the smallest, weakest voice.

She grabbed his belt right above it. Now, her hands were way too close to the sensitive area.

“W-w-wait!”

“But I need to get this off, that’s the next step, right?”

“I-it comes off from the back, the back!”

She pulled him closer again so she could grab at his hips and see what she was doing from over his shoulder. At this rate he was going to have a heart attack before anything even happened, he thought. The metal clanked and the belt came off. He actually had to move his hands out of the way for her to get rid of it entirely.

“Don’t put them back and go back to working on me.”

“But-”

“I’ll get used to seeing it anyway.” She smiled to herself

Right. It was probably no use hiding it, considering the… circumstances. It was probably even the only time it’d be appropriate. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought, and the idea of undressing her became a lot less stressful. Maybe it was alright. She was grabbing his knee and trying to get a good look at how the armor was affixed there, when he took her hands firmly and pulled them away.

“Oh please, not this again, I swear, we said no armor, this means no—”

He ignored her and just slipped her gloves off in a quick motion. “I can’t take your clothes off if you keep being so busy with your hands.”

“Oh… right…” she blushed, and stayed still some more. He gently pulled her dress further apart, taking in all the new sights offered to him. It slid off her petite shoulder, then down her subtly muscular arms and hands. The moment those were once again free, they hurriedly went back to his legs, while Edea blushed redder and avoided his gaze. She’d been the daring one from the start, but once she was the center of attention, she wasn’t so confident anymore. _Interesting._ This time, he was the one to surprise her by pulling her closer, so as to leverage her butt from the ground and slip her dress off more.

… He hadn’t planned for the panties to come down with it. And from her startled gasp against him, he realized that she had felt them come off too. Well… that had to happen at some point, didn’t it? No big deal, he thought, unable to take his eyes off of her intimacy.

“W-well, take the whole thing down now, so that we can move on!” she stuttered, her whole body stiff with anticipation.

And so he did exactly that, lifting her further up, balanced on his shoulder -she was a bit heavier than he’d realized- to finally take the dress (and the panties mixed in) off her legs. He didn’t even pay attention to where he discarded them, and instead softly put her back down in silence. She awkwardly repositioned herself, sitting directly on the stone ground with her legs bent on her right side, so that he could take her boots off without having to lift her again.

She kept her forehead stuck to his chest, facing downward, so as to hide her face from view while getting back to work. Her breathing was a lot fuller than before.

They kept working. The only sound was their already heavy breaths. Her boots slid right off and her socks just as easily. In the blink of an eye, she’d gone completely naked. He noticed a paper from his pile next to them, and realized he had no idea how long it’d been since he had dropped them. It felt like it had happened in another world, another life.

Meanwhile, she wasn’t done even freeing one of his legs. He tried to help, but she simply slapped his hand away, so he didn’t. Instead, he put his hands on her waist. It felt soft. Warm. So he started feeling more of her back, tracing down her muscles, each of the vertebrae poking from her bent spine. It felt strangely calming, weirdly adequate. It was like his brain had short circuited, nothing else really mattered than the moment.

He came back to his sense when he felt the coldness of the ground under his own butt.

Wait, she was already done?

There had to be something wrong with the passing of time. While he was still trying to seize the situation, she had discarded his leggings and boxers to the side and finally faced him, still red and with a strange spark in her eyes. She had a hard time containing her smile. “Now there’s only one thing left to do…”

And she grabbed and slid his helmet right off. “No armor we said!”

“What?!…?!”

Was that part of the deal all along?

Panic seized him as he tried to grab it back, but she was already on her feet and running from him, giggling. He followed her with only one thought: he had to get it back, put it back on, he couldn’t show his face like that, that was way too much, even for the situatio—

He caught up with her and she let herself fall down on the bed, dragging him down with her. Oh yes. That situation. That was still happening. And they couldn’t have landed better; her on her back, him hovering over her, propped up on his hands. She’d done it on purpose, hadn’t she?

“Now—” she breathed, looking straight into his eyes while she yanked the helm away somewhere. He didn’t even look at it. “—This is where it gets good.” She smiled.

He stood paralyzed, fixated on her eyes, his mind drawing a blank. A voice somewhere in his head was screaming at him to get away and apologize, but while he did hear it, everything else in his mind and body was frozen. He saw her bite her lip and slowly raise her hands to his back, pulling him closer slowly. Feeling like thawing at his own frozen body, he tried to comply.

“You’re really cramped, it’s making this a bit awkward.” She finally broke eye contact and looked away, an embarrassed smile cracking out. “Are you sure you’re…”

He was barely listening; the breaking of eye-contact unfroze his lungs and brought back light to his brain. He caved in and went for the kiss she hadn’t been expecting, but didn't fight. On the contrary; she happily returned it as they rolled to the side, holding each other tight. Still, no complex thought surfaced in his mind. It was like the walls had come down, but there was nothing behind them. Only her, her lips, her breath, her moans, her warmth, her skin under his hands, her hands on his back, her legs around him, her, her, her…

Her hand that grabbed him right in the _vulnerable_ zone.

He felt violently thrust back into reality, into his own head, and broke their kiss.

“W-w-wait!”

“Aww, what is it now?”

‘What is it now?’ Was that all so natural for her? He'd been losing _decades_ of his life just this evening and she’d barely broken a sweat. Which… probably made him a terrible partner, come to think of it.

This definitely wasn’t going according to any of the scenarios he’d played in his head until now. He’d thought he’d be suave and confident, would listen to her, know as if on instinct exactly what she'd love, be the perfect lover she deserved and nothing less, one that would put her pleasure over anything else…

And here he was discovering he was, in fact, a total mess.

“I…”

“You don’t like it?”

Her hand still hovering where she'd grabbed, she gave the lightest stroke with her short nails, using only two fingers. Nonetheless, he felt it in every inch of his body. She seemed to notice, as she kept stroking, slightly faster, a devious smile creeping up. In an attempt to hide his face and evacuate the surge of emotion, he fell back down in her embrace and squeezed her hard. And as she kept going, he held her even tighter, terrified to show any kind of reaction, guilty for not telling her to stop.

Then a shivering moan escaped him, and he heard something crack as his following reaction was to squeeze harder in a panic.

“Ow, dammit, chill!” She stopped, obviously, trying to assess the pain in her back.

He was relieved, if a bit disappointed somewhere. But mostly, he felt mortified. For both of his reactions.

“F-forgive me, I was… I didn’t—” He pulled away, but kept his eyes on her, trying to reassure himself he hadn’t hurt her too badly.

“You know, I was doing it for you, you don’t have to fight your natural reaction!”

“I… what?”*

“I mean if it feels good, you can just show it.”

“Oh no, no-no-no,” he stuttered, his face feeling warm. “Not like that, trust me it’s not… it would not be appropriate.”

“Appropriate for what? We’re both alone, naked, in bed, and I’m massaging your dick, it’s not a fancy dinner party!”

“I-I—!” She had a way with words, which basically amounted to nothing but hitting him senselessly with bluntness. “I should be doing something for you, I feel like I’ve already gotten a needlessly high amount of attention—“ More than enough attention for a lifetime, actually. Being touched was an alien sensation, let alone in such private area. Hell, could he even remember the last time he had skin-to-skin contact? … Come to think of it, had he even ever had any?

“Oh is that so?” she asked with a knowing smile, the kind that sent a shiver down his spine, a shiver that he could somehow feel reaching his still pulsating groin. “Well in that case…” She took his hand and gently guided him between her legs, whispering, “You can return the favor.”

He had brought that one upon himself, hadn’t he? Sensing his hesitation, she kept a hold of his hand and guided him through the motions as well, smiling gently at him. It felt incredibly warm, more so than the rest of her body, but also wet, and soft. That meant he hadn't been doing that bad until now, didn't it? As he started copying the movement on his own, she let go of his hand and relaxed, half sitting against the head of the bed.

He was still scared, scared of doing something wrong, scared of hurting her somehow, scared to disappoint. He decided to pull through all the doubts. It was for her, and he wasn’t going to let any part of his insecurities get in the way. He kept his eyes on her, to check whether or not he was doing well, but she quickly started blushing and closed her eyes, apparently concentrating on evening out her breaths that were getting more and more erratic.

So much for ‘not fighting against one’s natural reaction’, huh? So he focused on said breathing to keep up the pace, trying different pressures, direction, movements, faster, slower. She kept her eyes shut, but her face grew redder, her contained smile wider, and her legs kept closing on him.

Somewhere inside his chest, he was beaming with pride. Then he stopped completely. Her laborious breath evened up a bit and she finally opened one eye, an air of confusion on her face.

“Why are you stopping?”

“Frustrating, huh?” he grinned.

“Gh--!! You dick!” She took a pillow and hit him with it repeatedly, but he just laughed and laid back down, dragging her with him in his embrace.

“Speaking of dicks, you didn’t finish with me either.”

“Well, no…” she started. “But these don’t have to be done separately…”

They kissed from a common thought while their hands went right back to exploring the other’s intimacy.

“Stop tensing up,” she suddenly said after a moment, and grabbed him more firmly. He opened his eyes to her stern look, contrasting with her glowing red cheeks.

“I’m not tense,” he lied, pulling back his right arm that he’d been resting on to hide how tense it was.

“I thought you were finally easing up, but you’re back to keeping it all shut,” she pouted.

“I’m fine, really, this is just… how I do.”

She let go to hug him, taking his hands off her at the same time, rolling so he’d be on his back with her on top, and stared him down. “We’re not going any further until you ease up.”

“Is it so hard to believe me when I say it’s fine?” To punctuate what he said, he put his fingers right back to where she’d taken them off. This had the effect of startling her, and making her forget her argument, blushing furiously.

“I-I-I guess not. S-still, what do you want m-me to do then?” She wasn’t going to give up.

“I’m okay.” He kissed her forehead. “You can continue.”

So after consideration, she rolled the other way and resumed. This time, he tried to focus on his reaction even harder, to be less tense, to ‘ease up’, but found he couldn’t. This was just how his feelings poured out: like falling into emptiness, and holding on to her for dear life. A strangled, pained moan escaped him again and he felt her gasp and stop.

“I’m okay. I’m okay…” he panted, face still tense and eyes shut. “Keep going.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, she softly returned his previous kiss to his forehead and went back, even gentler than before. It didn’t really help, but he realized he didn’t mind. It felt close to painful, but good at the same time, and he figured maybe that feeling was good enough for him. She was all that mattered and if she needed him to get off, then that was his duty to make sure that happens. He’d gone and would again go through pain much worse for her. So he stopped thinking about it, enjoying their moment, the feeling of her skin, her smell, her sounds. At some point she went back to kissing and nudged him to roll on his back again, while she reached for something in her bedside table.

“You really were that prepared?” was all he could say when he saw the condom she pulled out.

“ _Four days_ , Alternis. Although to be honest, that ‘confidential council late hour’ was when I had already gone desperate so… I’ve been preparing for longer than that.”

He would be lying if he said he never got that suspicion more than once, but he’d just kept brushing it off as him reading way too hard into cues. He couldn’t believe it now, let alone back then.

She pouted a little. “Of course, you didn’t even see them, but trust me I had even chosen my panties carefully.”

Well, that was definitely something he’d have to check later then.

“So…” She went back to his dick, condom in hand. He only now realized what it meant.

“Wait do you want to—?” Already?

“No, not just yet. But better safe than sorry, right?” She wrapped it with suspicious ease – had she also trained for it? At this level, it’s no wonder it felt like she wasn’t breaking a sweat… “And yes, before you ask, I did get enough for any size just in case. Though I did try to gauge it under your armor at first, it was pretty hard to figure it out.”

“Wait, so how does the truth compare to the estimates?” he blurted, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Heh, don’t put me on the spot like that.”

Ouch. He grimaced and looked away.

“It’s fine, silly!” she pouted, catching his reaction. “Honestly I’m more concerned about the fact that it seems to be painful for you.”

“It’s not, stop worrying.” Since he was still lying down and she was sitting, her face was too far for him to kiss, so he resolved to smile and kiss her hand instead to punctuate what he said. She smiled in return, and then got on top of him.

Their sexes touched for the first time, and he felt a new, tantalizing surge of electricity again.

“Is this okay?”

“Y-yes, more than okay,” he stuttered painfully, hardly breathing. She made that distrustful face again. “Keep going,” he said anyway, still staring in the void, trying to get a hold of his emotions. He actually did want her to keep going. And so they kept doing what they’d been doing, with the difference that they had their hands free now, so he held hers as she danced, holding on to them as his only thread, grounding him, saving him from falling into nothingness. He closed his eyes, trying to take it all in, everything he could feel, his body and hers, the sheets, the warmth of the air around them, to stop trying to control his reactions, seizing the moment and nothing more. It hurt, but still he was craving for more.

Suddenly he felt himself slip just a few centimeters into her. That was certainly an accident, a trick of gravity. And from her reaction, freezing over him, her whole body tense, she felt it too. They stayed that way, paralyzed and afraid of making any further move, staring dumbly into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity.

Then, because they weren’t doing anything against it, gravity again pulled her slightly further down around him, so he finally gave in and rolled her on her back, him on top again, careful not to push deeper yet, but still not pulling any inch away either.

If it was time for it, then it needed to be done properly. They both took a moment to catch their breath, eyes still locked unto each other. He waited for a sign, barely holding on; should he keep going? Pull away?

Did it hurt?

Slowly, she moved to rearrange her position, spreading her legs slightly, which accidentally pulled him a bit deeper again. Still, he held on, panting. He wanted to go. He didn’t want to pull away, ever.

Finally she took a deep, shaky breath, her face flushed, and a wide smile stretched across her face, as she held onto his back.

Those was all the signs he needed, so he propped himself up on his hands, reflexively closed his eyes, and gently thrust forward once, then a second time, feeling her grasp tighter on his back, her legs closing on him, tightening around him inside as well. On the third thrust, he was completely in, and he realized how close their faces had gotten. They exchanged a blank stare for a few seconds.

“So… how is it?” she asked, out of breath, as she slowly crossed her legs over his back.

What kind of question was that? He just blushed furiously, overwhelmed. There was no way he could find his words. He just kept drawing a blank, while feeling his face getting warmer and warmer by the second.

“H-hey, don’t panic on me,” she cut, softly but worried. “It’s al—”

“Warm,” he breathed out.

“Huh?”

“It’s— You’re—” He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself and failing. “It feels very warm.”

“As warm as your face right now?” she tried to quip, but her face was quickly as red as his.

“And… soft… And when you— When your legs move I—” Another laborious breath, talking was getting harder and harder. He had to finish on a whisper. “I can feel it a bit.”

He tried averting her eyes, still trying to get a hold of all the emotions he could feel boiling inside him just beneath the surface. As a result, he was inadvertently staring at her boobs. He was pulled out from his head by her voice, which made him reflexively lift his eyes toward her face. Thankfully, she too was looking away.

“Well… I’d say warm too. To describe it— you, I mean.” From what looked like shyness, she instinctively brought her legs closer, which resulted in a painful gasp from both of them. She immediately stopped in her movement and spread her legs again. “And well yeah, there’s a bit of that too.”

“Wait, does it hurt?”

“Not… really no, it’s just a bit weird.”

Was that a bad thing?

“See, told you it was fine like that, if it would’ve been any bigger, I doubt we’d be there already.”

With that she laughed, a shy, vulnerable laugh on her red cheeks, with her disheveled hair and panting breath. He couldn’t help but kiss her again.

And with that he pulled away slightly so he could thrust again as she pulled him in with her legs. It was like he took his energy from her, like the walls around him were slowly crumbling as he took more and more. Her hands pressing further on his back, her breaths in his mouth, her heartbeat against his cock, this warmth inside her… He wanted nothing more than lose himself inside her, be a part of her, forget himself, forget everything else, she was the only thing that mattered, so he kept thrusting, deeper, faster, like it was all that mattered now.

Only her.

“… Alternis!”

He slowly came back to his senses just as he felt something else leave his insides, panting against her neck. He could hear irregular, gasping breaths over his shoulders along with the rise and fall of her chest against his.

They held still for a few seconds, until he came to realize his chest hurt and felt heavy, his throat tight, hoarse, and his knees ready to give under.

His… knees?

He was standing up on his knees, pressing her against the brick wall over the bed. A pillow had found its way between her lower back and the bed’s headboard. How did they even end up in that position?

“Wh-what the...” he breathed, trying to remember how things actually had gone, and realized he drew a blank.

“Oh good, you calmed down,” she panted. “I thought I was going to end up hitting the roof.”

Hearing the sarcasm in her voice, he immediately felt his face warm up. This managed to bring out some last scraps of energy he had in his body, as he secured her in his arms, slowly pulling her away from the wall where he noticed she left a slightly damp outline. He sat down in awkward silence and a cloud of warmth, empty-headed, with her arms and thighs still wrapped around him.

That’s when he realized he was still in her, and hurriedly pulled out, flustered. He noticed he still had the condom on, now slightly too big for him, and took it off before it made a mess. As he went to discard it to the bin -the same one he’d thrown the pen earlier, something he couldn’t believe happened less than an hour ago- she kept silent on the bed, still catching her breath. As the silence continued, he nervously came back to the bed to sit awkwardly on it. He was about to break it when she beat him to it.

“So... what the hell was that for?” She sounded quite like herself, if still a bit out of breath, but what made him turn around was the bit of worry in her voice. He immediately felt his anxiety worsen as he inquired:

“Wh- what do you mean?”

“You were crying!” she hammered, leaving him speechless for a moment. “And you sounded as if you were in pain again. What’s wrong?”

“What? No I wasn’t!” he defended.

What was she talking about? What had happened? His memories still felt fuzzy, outside of some rather strong core feelings.

“Ugh! Why even hide it? We were really close, Alternis.” Despite the obvious sarcasm, she blushed as she said that. “And -thankfully- you’re not wearing your helm now. Tell me.”

“I’m serious! I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Crying? Why would he be crying? He might’ve have gotten carried away, sure, but still he distinctly remembered the intoxicating joy and warmth he had felt inside her.

“You still have the tear marks on your cheeks.”

Her hand reached for his face, but he reflexively put his up first. It felt wet, and not the clammy, sweaty kind you could come to expect.

He realized more were still streaming down.

“I think some dropped on me, too.” She pointed at some moisture on her shoulders, and was already checking her body for more. For a moment he forgot what they were even looking for as he was absentmindedly wiping at his eyes, just dizzily following her every movement, every inch of her skin...

“Like what you see?” she smirked

“I’m sorry, I was just...” he avoided her gaze hastily just as he snapped back to reality.

“Relax, I... I was clearly joking. I know you like it anyway.” She tried to joke amidst the worry in her voice, but it wasn’t very convincing. Her hands came to cup his face, forcing him to look at her. He could instantly read the worry in her eyes. “You’re acting really weird. You can just tell me if there’s anything, you know that?”

“I... I apologize.” He felt like he needed to provide some kind of explanation, even though he had none. Unconsciously, his eyes drifted away from hers again. “It seemed as if my mind wandered off for a moment. I don’t remember what happened. I figured this was normal...” He nervously eyed her, but she kept staring at him, expecting more. “I’m... deeply sorry.”

She still didn’t move, didn’t say anything. The pressure was making it hard to breathe. That’s when a terrifying thought came to him. “Did I— Did you not enjoy it?” Had he managed to ruin their first time that badly?

She made a weird face, finally let go of his chin and diverted her gaze away from him. Something immediately sunk down his chest with the realization “Oh no, I did—"

“No!” she said hurriedly when she noticed him panic. “I mean, ugh, let me just...” She still couldn’t look at him, and started waving her arms around, like she did whenever she felt nervous. “I just need a moment to find the right words!”

He’d really messed up that badly “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to...!”

“No! Not like that, it wasn’t...!” Her face beet red, she suddenly grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. She then took a deep breath to regain her composure. “Okay listen. I won’t lie to you, it felt great.” She was red still, hugging the pillow against her chest and smiling like it was hard for her not to. “Surprising, yes, and it took some moment to get used to the rhythm, but otherwise great!” She started fiddling with her fingers again, her voice getting softer.

“It’s just that… yeah I kind of got worried for you. Worried you weren’t into it, that you went through it just for me... I even tried to talk to you but you wouldn’t answer, it… really _was_ like you weren’t quite there.”

He felt his own face warm up, trying to focus all of his brain power on the little bedside table he‘d been staring at. He did feel relieved to hear he didn’t hurt her or anything, and some sort of pride that she even enjoyed it, but he could still hear the discomfort in her voice.

“Next time we could take our time, you know. We don’t, like, have to rush it if you’re not feeling up to it... But I’m okay really, don’t obsess over it, please.”

Well he was definitely going to obsess over it. “I… I enjoyed it too. I really did”

That’s all he could muster -and it was the truth! While he couldn’t remember many details, there was one thing he was sure of: it had been the best moment of his entire life up until this point. He regretted not to be able to say so better, to excitedly ramble about exactly how good it felt and how happy he’d been, to congratulate her, tell her how much he loved her, being with her, being _in_ her.

But apparently all he could do right now was stare at a bedside table, crumpled over himself, his eyes itching from the tears. There was a silence he wanted to break, but it was like his mouth wouldn’t open.

“Tell me, why were you crying?” She still would not let go. He had no answer to give, but she didn’t seem to believe him. “Not telling me is just going to keep things awkward. We just had sex. I think I can handle some degree of emotional intimacy too.”

He kept silent, eyes resolutely cast downwards. What was he even supposed to say?

So she kept going, letting out a small grunt of discomfort.

"I think it’ll probably even be less rough," she said, massaging her back. “And no, before you start,” she cut immediately when she saw him catch himself, and glance a worried look. “I’m fine. You’re not going to injure me with your dick, Alternis. I just bumped against the wall at some point. That’s why I put the pillow there.”

“Bumped? How hard?” He completely ignored her previous words, and his previous embarrassment, his hands already on her hips to check for any sign of injury.

“I’m fine, I tell you! It’ll be gone by morning!”

“However…!”

“Stop changing the subject already!” This was the point where annoyance turned into anger. She pulled his hands off her and pushed him away.

"I-I don’t... I don’t know what happened!" he stammered, sounding angrier than he’d have liked. He felt exhausted, and her pressing the matter only made him more irritated. But he had to say something, didn’t he? He couldn’t let this moment turn into a sour memory for the both of them.

“Are you serious!?”

“I just don’t! I don’t remember! I was... I felt like...” He tried to search for the right word again, but still couldn’t find it. So he took a deep breath and her hands in his, and looked her in the eyes this time. His voice, however, was cracking. "It just... it really felt good, I promise. There’s no need to worry about it, let’s just... drop it. Please.”

He closed his eyes. He just wanted to rest, take a moment to gather his thoughts and process this evening, memorize the best parts to never forget them.

She didn’t say anything. He figured it was probably time to call it quits; he couldn’t do more to explain himself tonight.

“Anyway, I-l should probably take my leave.”

“No, no, no!” Before he could even leave the mattress, she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him closer. His brain stopped working for a moment. “You’re sleeping here tonight!”

“What? Where?” He managed to articulate, his voice muffled against her shoulder.

“Here, stupid.” She collapsed with him on the mattress, one hand reaching for the covers. “That’s what people do when they sleep together. They... sleep... together. Too. Afterwards."

What was she even saying?

“Because you know.” He could hear her heartbeat getting faster without even turning away from her shoulder -which he really didn’t want to turn away from, suddenly. “There’s the other kind of sleeping, too. So like, both are involved. Ugh, I mean, you get it!"

"Y-yes, I get it." He couldn’t help but smile.

"So you’re staying there, with me, and you go to sleep here. With me,” she argued, pressing him close.

Well, who was he to argue the words of the new ruler of Eternia? He hugged her tighter as he felt sleep overcome him. But just then, she suddenly jerked up and out of his arms. “But first I need to pee!!” And she made a sprint for her personal bathroom.

Hugging a pillow instead, he couldn’t help but smile as he watched her naked behind run across the room.

He didn’t think he could love her any more than he already did.


	2. It's okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternis and Edea have had their first time more than a week ago but contrary to what one may thing, it is not going any smoother. Sometimes things just aren't resolved by pushing through your confort zone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey it's me again. This fic was originally intended to be a one shot but after thinking it over, I started realising it felt incomplete. It was basically my first ever smut, and things have made their way into the fic that I felt were worthy of being addressed in more details, so here is a sequel about Alternis's issues in the bed.
> 
> It is very much less smutty than the previous one, but it still contains a very unhealthy dose of sugar. Not recommended to diabetics, please see with your doctor for better advice on if it is still safe to consume.

“M-my apologies.”

“You shut up,” she retorted hotly as she kicked the bedside table, nearly toppling it over.

Alternis winced, both at her fuming tone, and for the fact she’d just kicked a metal furniture with her bare foot. This also confirmed his perception that she felt as angry as he imagined her to be, her (oh-so-beautiful) body shaking on the mattress. Even turned away from him, he knew how to read anger, and hers almost as accurately as his own. Not that she was one to ever hide it, anyway, he thought as he absentmindedly admired the curvatures on her back.

“I’m sorry, Edea,” he tried to coddle, uneasy, reaching for her wrist. “Come here, we will try again. This time I—”

“No.” She cut him sharply and got up, trampling on the clothes she’d thrown on the floor just moments ago. “You won’t.”

He took a deep breath, once more reciting: “I _swear_ to you that I—"

“I don’t want you to.”

He fell silent, swallowing his own words. He had failed again, like every other night since their very first time more than one week ago. And this time, that was it, this would be the straw that broke her back. The one that would break them apart.

“I truly apologize.” He couldn't help himself but continue, rejecting the idea, “I— I cannot control it.” He blurted lamely, now averting her eyes like a scolded child. “Yet!” He added in precipitation.

Yes, he would get over this, he would vanquish this foe, too. He just needed— practice, that was all. Keep on failing, until one day...!

She loudly groaned into the curtains, muffling what he assumed were words unbefit of a lady, not that it had ever stopped her before. But surely enough, it devolved into what looked like a sentence in which he could barely make up his name.

“Pardon me?”

“I said, you’re a dumbfuck idiot, Alternis!”

“Language!” he couldn’t help but scorn. Old habits died hard, even if she was now his superior.

“At least _I_ am saying what I think!” she retorted.

His cheeks flushed pink with shame and he averted his gaze once again. Words stuck to his throat.

There was a long silence between them, as he heard her lean on the window, trying to take a deep breath to calm her nerves, working on managing her anger as she had been taught.

He kept laying still in the bed, trying not to show anything of the pain in his chest. He felt like he should leave; it was _her_ bed after all, and she was making it clear she didn’t requested his… assistance in her matters. Not anymore. But somewhere inside him, something stopped him. Kept him there, where it was warm and it smelled of her, as if the sheets wrapping around his naked body were made of her essence, brave, sweet and fiercely protective.

“I…” He stammered, shyly, his voice quiet as a whisper. “I want you.”

“You don’t.” She replied immediately, just as softly. Too softly, he thought as he found the courage to turn back toward her.

She was looking at the snowy mountains far away behind the glass, but he could feel her whole attention was still trapped in the room, lingering.

“I do.” He repeated. “This is what I think.”

Edea finally turned back to him, her gaze tired and defiant. “You don’t.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you,” she bursted, her voice cracking along with his heart, “You’re in pain each time we make love! You don’t look at me, you don’t touch me, you don’t even want me to touch you!”

“I-I let you touch me!”

“But you look so _uncomfortable_!” she stressed out, as upset as he felt. “Why?”

“I—It’s complicated.” He deflected, ashamed. It should be a simple matter: men were supposed to _crave_ this. He was a military man, so he had heard all about that from his fellow men, how the touch-starvation would weigh on them like an obsession. But it wasn’t so simple, not for him. He wanted her, he wanted to make her happy, and he could feel his own body reacting to that.

But then it just… came crashing down the second he was presented with the opportunity. Things would feel wrong and overwhelming, intrusive thoughts would emerge, he’d feel anxious, nauseous, cramped, _disgusted_.

But she was not disgusting, how could he have such a revolting thought? He would berate himself, trying to will the feeling away, hours after of even before, in anxious anticipation of their joining. He had started to dread those.

She had given him a chance to please her, and he was ruining it.

Talking was hard, he had to swallow back, “But I’m sorry I made you feel—”

“Stop. Apologizing!” she roared, storming back toward the bed. He couldn’t help but reflexively pull the sheets back up to protect himself from the outburst. “I…! I _know_ how you feel about me. You told me enough. Too much, even. I just need to know what I’m doing wrong! Why are you so disappointed? I thought you wanted it!”

“I do!” he blurted in anguish. “I just— It’s just _too much_!”

“What is too much? _This_?” She spread her legs open.

He yelped, burying under the covers.

“Are you kidding me, Alternis? How old are you?!” She stormed as she pinned him down on the bed.

He heard himself cry. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry! F-forgive me…!”

For a moment, there was another silence in which he desperately tried his best to hide his sobs, even after he felt her weight shifts to the other half of the mattress.

Eventually, he ran out of air under the heavy blanket, and had to emerge to breathe. The room was dead silent, but he could still feel her weight on the mattress. He kept looking the other way.

“I love you.” He confessed yet again. That much he knew was true.

“Did something happened?” She asked instead. It was blunt, but she didn’t sound angry anymore. Her voice was soft, and quiet.

He turned back, gaping at her for a few seconds before he answered. “What do you mean?”

“Where you ever… You know.” She grimaced. “Did you have a… bad experience before?”

“Oh. No.” He said quickly, “No, I wasn’t— Nothing happened.”

“Are you sure? Even when you were small?”

He winced. He had blocked so much of his childhood, it all felt like a long, terrible nightmare. But no. Nothing that came to mind, anyway. He shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. Don’t worry.”

“You would tell me, right?” She pouted, and he could still see the doubt in her eyes. “I would never judge you.”

“I know. And I promise.” He swore as he took her hand, pressing his lips against it. That much he could do. That much felt nice. Sometimes, he marveled at being able to do this, and wondered how he survived without until now.

“Alternis?” She broke the silence once more.

“Yes?”

“Are you gay?”

He blanked suddenly. “What?”

“Would you prefer to be with a man right now?”

“What?” He repeated, utterly flabbergasted.

“You don’t like my lady bits, but you like my personality,” She then gritted her teeth in annoyance: “And I have been told by some people that I wasn’t very ladylike. Do you prefer looking at male bodies?”

“Wh— no! I don’t.” The thought never even crossed his mind. He’d always been so preoccupied with Edea, he had never even looked at anyone, male or female.

Looking back on it, he had never really been interested in seeing anyone in the nude. He had been told this was a craving linked to love, so he had figured this would simply come into place naturally when Edea would return his romantic feelings and they would both be of age. He had never questioned it much.

And now, it was not happening and he was left with so many questions.

And doubts, she had them too, he could read in her eyes.

“I have never wanted a man.” He explained. “Nor any woman other than you, I swear it. I think I probably just need to get used to—”

“Never?” She had her eyebrow raised.

He squirmed a little under her sudden disbelief. Did he say something wrong? “No. Never,” He repeated.

She shook her head, looking away. “I don’t believe you.”

“Pardon me?”

He could see her pout, even from where he was. “I’ve seen you lusting after any and every girl passing by.”

“What? When?”

“During Agnès’ journey.”

What? They had barely seen each others back then! They had only knowingly met each others four times at best, never for long. Moreover, he remembered being so stressed these months, he was absolutely certain he hadn’t done anything close to flirting –bar that embarrassing confession he made to her on Grandship.

Unless she meant… Oh.

He winced, rolling away from her “He is different.”

“How so? You’re the same person.”

 _‘Because everything just comes easily to him’,_ he thought. He can just choose to be happy and charming, and think of himself as a good party. He can just forget.

Alternis couldn’t forget anything. He couldn’t forget the Lord Marshall’s kindness. He couldn’t forgive Florem. He couldn’t forgo his duties and look away from his life debt.

“It’s not… It’s not easy for me.” He forced himself, his tongue tasting bitter.

She sighed as she laid back down. “I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She reached over for his hand again, spooning him in the process.

“Do you want to try something with me?” She asked quietly after a moment of calm.

“Anything for you.”

She slapped him playfully. “Don’t say that. If you don’t like it I want you to tell me right away.”

“Very well.” He sighed as he turned to her. “What is it?”

“Hang on a bit.” She teased as she straightened up and away from the bed. He immediately missed her weight on the mattress, but did his best not to show anything.

His eyes followed her to her dresser, which she eagerly started to rummage in. What could she be looking for? Did she acquire some toys in secret? He wasn’t sure what to think about that… he should be eager, shouldn’t he? Men were expected to enjoy sex, and wild ones at that, so… Yes, he probably shouldn’t feel so intimidated.

He took a deep breath, but to his surprise she only got a pair of panties out. Not even lingerie, simple white cotton underwear, that she expressly put on. Puzzled as he was, he observed her trot to his previously discarded underwear… and throw it at his face.

His undershirt and pants followed soon after as she pondered. “You know, we really should keep some clean change of clothes for you in my room.”

“Are… Are we done?” He asked hesitantly, sitting up. “Didn’t you want to try something? I didn’t say no…!”

“This is what I want to try, silly.”

He looked on in confusion as she came back to the bed. What kind of play was there to do with your clothes?

“Ta-dah!” She said, sitting on the bed with her legs spread out.

“What are you doing?” he finally inquired, utterly lost in her antics.

“You’re not looking grossed out anymore.” She pointed.

Indeed, he noticed that looking at her wasn’t so difficult now. However… “I wasn’t grossed out!” He felt the need to defend himself. He could not be grossed out, not by her body. He refused to.

“Sure.” She said, her tone ironic. “Look, we’re gonna have a new rule. Any covered body part is a no-go. No touching, no grabbing, no rubbing. Is that fine by you?”

“But why?” What did she have to gain from this situation? He couldn’t stimulate her privates like this. “Don’t you want me to—”

“Stop caring about what I want for once!” She groaned. “Now put any clothes you want on.”

He had no choice but to concede, still a bit uneasy nonetheless. He looked down at his pile of clothes, and settled for his underwear only. She was already in hers, right? Having any less wouldn’t be fair to her. But covering up too much would make her think he was withholding himself from her.

“That’s it? You got all you need?”

“Yes, but I’m still not quite sure what you—”

He couldn’t finish, for she launched herself at him, under the covers, cajoling him, nudging her face on his shoulder.

He froze, cold shivers running down his spine, his heart drumming in his chest.

Panic again, no, can’t panic, I shouldn’t, why am I panicking, what should I do, I have to--! Can’t breathe--!

“-nis! Alternis!!”

He gaped. He’d done it again did he?

“I-I’m fine, I just—I was—”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Shut up you idiot.”

He’d messed this up too, after all the trouble she went to accommodate his failings--!

She reached down the bed and another piece of cloth was chugged at his face. He unwrapped it: this was his shirt.

“Put it on. You obviously forgot to.”

“But you’re not wearing one!” he pointed.

“What? In case you forgot, I’m not the one who has trouble with being touched. I’m only wearing panties so you’re not overwhelmed by the sheer presence of my fantastic pussy. You’re the one who need to cover up all your sensible areas so I know which parts are uncomfortable for you!”

“I apologi-“ She hissed at him, so he coughed up the rest of the word as he put his head through his shirt. Then her hand went gently caressing his neck, he immediately winced, but he bit back his apologies this time. Without a word, she took a scarf of her to wrap around his neck.

Her hands went to his arms, below the hem of his short sleeves, his heart raced and he bit his lips. She took her hand back, started scanning her room for his jacket but he grabbed her hand back.

“Please continue.”

“Alternis—”

“No I mean it this time. I can handle that level.” She was squinting at him, her eyes full of suspicion. “Trust me, Edea.”

So she went back to it, slightly lower down his arms this time, her thumbs running soft circle into the crease of his elbows, tracing lines all the way down to his wrists, then his hands, playing with his fingers in hers.

That felt good, like sweet, warm tickles pumping in all of his body. He simply stood there in awe, the touch shutting his brain blank, ridding itself of fears and anxiety.

But then, suddenly, guilt again.

“I’m sorry,” he couldn’t help himself but shake his head, “this must be underwhelming to you.”

“What do you mean?” She asked nonchalantly, still focused on caressing his arms. “Am I doing this wrong?”

“N-no, you’re absolutely not, but… this… isn’t intercourse.”

She whistled, but remained in movement. “Maybe not. Or maybe it is. Who cares?”

He groaned, shifted, and folded his arms back behind his back. “This isn’t what we should be doing. That’s not what you—”

“What else should we be doing?” she asked as her hands cascaded along his forearms again, and he wasn’t strong enough to push her away again. This was like an itch he had ignored for too long.

“Y-you know what!” he stammered. “Us naked, me on top, you under, and just… love! We should be doing that!”

“Meh”

“Meh?!”

“Do you want to do it?” she asked as she looked him straight in the eyes, her gaze stern and unwavering, if not a little bit… angry.

“I-I can do it.”

“This is not what I asked.”

He bit his lips, willed his terrified heart. “If you want to, then I…”

“That’s not what I asked either.” She asked him once more, drawing her face closer to him. Avoiding her eyes was getting difficult. “If it wasn’t for me, if I didn’t particularly want it, would you still want to have sex?”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer. Instead, he lowered his gaze.

“This settles it, then! I don’t want to, anyway.” She said in a light tone trying to defuse the situation, but he kept looking downward. He could not believe her. “I mean it, you know.” She continued as if she could read his thoughts. “I don’t want to have sex if it’s hurting you. I don’t want it to be something you put up with just for me. And no, don’t apologize!”

He winced, closed his mouth: he really was an open book. He didn’t know what to say other than sorry, what could he say? How could he convince her that he could, that he wanted to make her happy. That he’d do anything.

“I can try to get over it, I can—”

“I know. But not today. Today is for you, we’ll start slow from there. See where this takes us.”

Finally, he let out a sigh he didn’t remember holding. No pressure? She wouldn’t hate him if he got this wrong? There was no wrong? Things wouldn’t escalate without warning?

This was… a nice feeling. Being touched, but also being in control, and the idea of being off the verge of failure too for once. He could simply be, with her.

His hands lifted to her back, slowly caressing from the tip of his fingers. It could be so simple. He didn’t need to do more, tonight.

She sat on his laps, and he shuddered at the contact. Without word, without judgement, she fetched his pants. It felt ridiculous, being nearly fully clothed, but he pushed down that thought. It was alright. It was enough.

They spent a moment he’d be unable to quantify like that, caressing each other’s skin in silence, learning to know the other’s body better and their boundaries, Alternis did find she didn’t like being touched at her waist actually when she suddenly tensed at the contact. She had to wrap a shawl around it. Her right shoulder also was stiffer and less sensitive than the left, courtesy of an old scar from her journey.

Eventually, what had to happen, did.

“Um, Edea?” he asked, unsure, when his pants started getting too tight.

“Yeah, I can see it.” She said, still finding new ways to caress his arms. “We’re just going to ignore it, okay?”

He breathed with relief.


End file.
